How do you react to the rich and powerful men of Pittsburgh owning a private lake that causes such a massive disaster? Locate your position in the social structure - upper, middle, or lower class - and try to picture how readers in the two other classifications would react to the same question.

If you were on a jury assessing liability for the accident, to whom - if anyone - would you assess guilt, in what amount, and for what specific reason(s)?

If you were to rebuild the South Fork dam, what precautions would you take against a recurrence of the Johnstown Flood? If you were a county official, what would you demand of such a contractor?

How would modern news coverage of the Johnstown Flood differ from that in 1889? Would it be better, worse, or the same?